Media access to make family courts 'accountable'

Family courts could be opened up to the Press under Government proposals designed to make them more "accountable".

Children would also be able to access details of judgments when they reach the age of 18, according to measures being put out for consultation.

Around 400,000 cases are heard in family courts every year, but currently almost all take place in private to protect those involved.

Constitutional Affairs Minister Harriet Harman told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme she believed it was possible to reform the system without harming the interests of vulnerable children and families.

She said greater "accountability" improved decision-making in any institution.

"The harder the decision is to take, it's more important that there is public confidence, and the judgments that are being made in family courts are of huge importance that can have life-long implications.

"If you make the right decision to take a child into care, you can save that child's life, but a miscarriage of justice in the family court is no less a miscarriage of justice than a life sentence."

Ms Harman said the Government plans would allow the media into family courts, but make reporters subject to a "new clear provision" that there was a criminal offence of breaching anonymity.

They would not be allowed to report information that would lead to identification of the child or parents, she added.

"You can't have confidence, and the public can't value a system, if they don't really know what's going on."

Courts would also be instructed to record a "Later Life Judgment", which would be available to the children involved when they reached adulthood.

At present, people have to become "like detectives" to get the information they want about their past, according to Ms Harman.

"People have said to me that actually when they are 18 and when they grow older, their need for information to make sense of what happened during their childhood actually grows."

She added: "Court has made a judgment that profoundly affects a child's life, and has an impact on them, a life-long impact.

"They should be prepared to record what they have decided and why, and be prepared to account to that child when they become an adult."